Intel is working to fix a design flaw in its Sandy Bridge chipsets relating to SATA performance

Intel has just issues a statement regarding its Series 6 (Cougar Point) chipset and a design flaw
that has been uncovered. The company reports the following:

As part of ongoing quality
assurance, Intel Corporation has discovered a design issue in a recently released
support chip, the Intel 6 Series, code-named Cougar Point, and has implemented
a silicon fix. In some cases, the Serial-ATA (SATA) ports within the chipsets
may degrade over time, potentially impacting the performance or functionality
of SATA-linked devices such as hard disk drives and DVD-drives. The chipset is
utilized in PCs with Intel's latest Second Generation Intel Core processors,
code-named Sandy Bridge. Intel has stopped shipment of the affected support
chip from its factories. Intel has corrected the design issue, and has begun
manufacturing a new version of the support chip which will resolve the issue.
The Sandy Bridge microprocessor is unaffected and no other products are
affected by this issue.

As Intel notes, the actual Sandy Bridge processor is not
affected by this design error, and it stopped shipment of chipsets that are
hampered by this SATA performance degradation problem. Intel also states that
it will begin shipping "fixed" chipsets towards the end of February
to its customers.

"The systems with the affected support chips have only
been shipping since January 9th and the company believes that relatively few
consumers are impacted by this issue," stated Intel in the press release.
"The only systems sold to an end customer potentially impacted are Second
Generation Core i5 and Core i7 quad core based systems.